Last month, 15 Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) students attended the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. Led by Derek Walker, VLGS adjunct professor in International Climate Change Law and vice president for global energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the student delegates learned about and engaged in a wide range of topics including oceans, freshwater, biodiversity, food and agriculture, climate finance, just transition, climate justice, intergenerational equity, and climate change litigation. The group also met with inspiring leaders from organizations such as the EPA, Youth Climate Collaborative, Resilient LLP, EDF, the Supreme Court of Palau, Sustainable Oceans Alliance, and the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance.
The students immersed themselves in the dynamic environment of COP29 with intellectual curiosity and openness. While expanding their knowledge and professional networks, their experiences integrated a self-curated blend of panels, meetings, and negotiating sessions with rapid-fire requests from VLGS partners at Legal Response International and the EDF.
Each student documented their experience as they absorbed the knowledge and events of COP29. The following excerpts represent the students’ daily reactions.
“Walking into a space where so many countries and cultures are gathered under one roof to focus on our shared future was both hopeful and inspiring.”
“The mystical nature of COP is that it brings minds together capable of wanting to change this genuine threat to us all, knowing we must shift something so tremendous and believing it is possible. Today, I felt it was possible.”
“There is so much excitement and interest in climate action and an absurd amount of information and topics being discussed and addressed…it seems like it would be/is almost impossible to harness all of the information here to develop any kind of all-encompassing plan for addressing climate change.”
“This was one of the best weeks of my life and hands down the best week of my time at VLGS. Being able to see how everything works was inspiring.”
“It was an incredible experience meeting so many inspiring people and seeing how progress is made.”
Each year, VLGS sends student delegates as accredited observers of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This trip is a required component of the International Climate Change Law course and is made possible through grant money from the Environmental Law Center to support the mission of the Tuholske Institute for Environmental Field Studies.
